chapter 77

ARIELLA.

The news they broke to me almost made me pass out. David is already on the way here. And he was with Eli because according to these two, Eli let Blaire and Lawrence escape from David. So it means that David must have fought with Eli and that got me worried so much that my heart literally hurts.

"We have to get out of here fast!" said Blaire, who clearly was the most scared here. The prospect of David coming after them must have scared her the most because she just literally betrayed him. "Ariella, we have to go!"

"Relax," Darius interrupted her. He gave her a wide smile but it didn't lighten Blaire's mood. "My brother doesn't have the power to travel from one place to another in an instant. So if he's still at New Forks, it will take days for him to reach this place, even if he's a vampire..."

"Oh no, no," Blaire contradicted him instantly. "We didn't leave him at New Forks. We were somewhere else. You see, Lawrence and I already ran away from him. We hid at another place here in the north. But he found us quickly and tried to take us back to New Forks. Luckily for us, Eli actually followed him to where we were, so Eli fought David and that's how we escaped."

"Did you know what happened to Eli? You said that David's coming here so... did something happen to Eli?"

"He was still okay when we escaped, but it was David that he was fighting so who knows... He might need our help too. And that's all the more reason that we have to get out of here. We don't want to be here when David arrives."

"Okay. Let's go. Let's talk again later." We all headed to the main door, including Darius. He was still confused as to why he was coming with us though. He wanted to stop me, but then he saw the fire in my eyes and just let me do what I wanted to do. But as soon as I reached the door, I got blasted off my feet again.

"Ariella!" It was a good thing that Darius was quick on his feet. He managed to catch me before I hit the floor. "That was close!"

"Oh no... I forgot about the curse!" I yelled in frustration. "What do I do now?"

"Just try again," Lawrence suggested innocently. He managed to get out of the door but of course, that was obvious. But what intrigued me though was that Blaire managed to get out too, making my jaw drop. She was standing outside next to Lawrence, waiting for me and Darius to find a way to get out.

"Wait, Blaire... How did you... Don't tell me that you're a vampire now too?" I asked her.

But Blaire shook her head. "No, of course not! I am not a vampire, Ariella!"

"Then how did you manage to get out of this castle without getting blasted away by the curse?"

She remained quiet for a whole minute before answering my question. It was obvious that she didn't want to tell me the answer but now she had to. "Well, I guess it's time to tell you this. Ariella, do you remember when you asked me why I was still with David and his family even though Julian and I already broke up?"

"Yeah. I asked you that because it was weird that you were still with them."

Blaire nodded. "The truth is, I got pregnant by Julian, so I had to stay with them because I have to become a vampire too if I wanted to give birth to my child."

"What?" I almost yelled, but I covered my mouth as soon as I realized that my reaction was too much. "So you are a vampire now?"

"No. Like I said, I'm still not a vampire. But my baby is," she replied, touching her stomach and I finally understood what she meant. Her baby has vampire blood, so when she got to the door she was allowed by the curse to get out because she was carrying some vampire blood with her in her womb.

"Oh, wow. So I'll have a new niece or nephew," Darius commented. He seemed to be genuinely happy to hear about the news, but he was also confused. "My unborn niece or nephew is interesting though. Half-witch and half-vampire? That is a combination worth seeing."

"Hello? Are we forgetting that we still have a problem here?" I said sarcastically to Darius. "Darius, maybe you still know another loophole to the curse? If Blaire managed to find one, then maybe you can too."

"I'm sorry, Ariella. I would have already told you if I knew another one. But I don't. I'm not particularly knowledgeable in this field as I find curses boring."

"Okay, fine. But how am I going to get out of here?"

It was Lawrence who answered. "Maybe you should get pregnant too!" he said excitedly as if what he was talking about was as easy as it was hilarious to hear. And because it came from a child, everyone laughed at that, even me.

"You silly boy, do you think a person gets pregnant in an instant?" I said, but Darius was still laughing. I glared at him and that made him stop.

"I'm sorry for laughing. My little brother is a jokester. But he is right though. It might take a while, and it's probably useless since we have to get you out of here right now, but he is right."

"I thought that you were smart, Darius?" I half-joked. "How could I get pregnant when my mate isn't a vampire?"

"I know. I was just kidding. But how are we going to get you out of here then?"

"I know another way," said Blaire, but she didn't look excited as to what she was going to say next. "But you might not like it too, Ariella."

"Why? What is it?"

Blaire swallowed hard before replying to me. "Since only vampires could get out of here freely, then you should become a vampire too."

That made me laugh again. "You're not serious, right?"

"I am," she said and that erased my smile. "But like I said, you might not want to do it, so that's okay."

"That could work," Darius added. "I mean, you're a werewolf already, so you're not going to become a full-blooded vampire if you did become one. But you don't need to be a full-blooded vampire to get out of here. Blaire's unborn child is just half-vampire and yet Blaire managed to get out of the door."

"He's right, Ariella," said Blaire with a sad smile. "In theory, that could actually work. But it's up to you. Of course, we won't force you to do it since it's a life-changing decision."

"If you don't want that, we could just wait for David and see if we could negotiate with him," said Darius. "But you know my brother by now. He's not going to listen to any of us. Not even me."

"Yeah. Once he arrives here, it will be over for all of us," said Blaire. "Especially for you, Ariella, since you will not be able to leave this place."

I gulped and my hands and legs started shaking. I have to decide now or risk David catching me here. As I said to Darius earlier, this was the perfect time to escape, but time is running out for me. And Eli might need my help too. What if he got badly injured again? I had to look for him too, so after taking a deep breath, I finally told them my decision. "Fine. I'll become a vampire."